Food for Thought
by Beagairbheag
Summary: Persuasion based story. Anne has more of a reaction to Frederick's words during the dinner at the Great House. How does it change the story? HIATUS just for a while
1. Chapter 1

_I know I shouldn't really be starting yet another new fic, when I have quite a few that need to be finished but this is what my muse wants to work on and I learnt long ago, not to argue._

_Takes place during the meal at the Great House, after Captain Wentworth makes those remarks about marriage and being away at sea. I always wondered what would have happened, had Anne had more of a reaction to them.

* * *

_

She felt the fork slip out of her hand, heard the clatter and thud as it hit her plate first, and then the table, and she could not fail to notice the looks and glances those around her gave her.

"Anne, are you alright?" Henrietta asked as she watched the woman sitting across from her loose the little colour she had left in her cheeks, then rise from the table with a minimal assistance from Admiral Croft. Rising one hand to her face, Anne used the other to wave Henrietta off before stating her need for some air.

Walking round the head of the table, she rested a hand on Charles' shoulder when he began to rise, bidding him to stay. Restating again that all she needed was a little air.

"I'll be fine. It's just become a little…stuffy in here." She said, head bowed.

After she left the room, the occupants within sat in silence for a few moments until the young girls began to chatter again. Charles shared a glance with his parents before sitting back in his seat and taking a drink from his cup.

Frederick watched the Admiral and his sister look at one another in that silent communication that only married couples seemed to manage. He watched his sister tilt her head slightly in the direction of the door and the Admiral make as if to stand.

"I'll go" he said, surprising himself and the rest of the room for the rest of them stilled in their actions for a moment.

"Don't be silly Captain Wentworth," Mary piped up from her seat "Anne will be fine."

"She didn't look too well when she left Mrs Musgrove," came the voice of Mrs Croft "If Frederick does not go then the Admiral shall. I would hate to think Miss Anne was out there and in need of assistance"

"Well if anyone goes, it should be Charles. He is her family after all." Mary put in as she helped herself to more food from the table.

"No," Frederick said as he took the napkin from his legs and set it on the table before standing up. "Stay where you are Charles. I was going to stretch my legs soon anyway."

And with that, he left the room.

The silence that filled the room was more intense than that that had occurred on the departure of Anne though lasted only a faction longer. There was a scramble by the two Musgrove sisters to get to their feet and follow him out of the door but a stern look by their father had them sitting again, looking forlorn.

Mrs Croft brought their attention back to those at the table by asking the ladies where the best, local place to shop for lace was. Which had each of them clambering to suggest their favourite hangouts and comparing prices, and event which had them in discussion for a long time after. For a conversation on lace always has to be followed by one on ribbons which in turn has to be continued by one on silk and so forth.

On his way down the corridor Frederick Wentworth wondered what on earth he was doing. Had he really just offered to go looking for the woman who, eight years ago, had taken hold of his heart? First to fondle it and hold it close as though it where the most precious thing in the world, only to turn and rip it out his chest, and hand it to him while it was still beating?

He shook his head. He mustn't have be thinking straight, blaming it all on the two small glasses of wine he had enjoyed during the meal. Or perhaps on the country air. It had always lead him to do strange things in this part of the world.

The surrounding ground of the Great House wasn't very large as estates go but it still took Frederick ten minutes to locate Anne, and a further five for him to go over to her.

She sat in a small alcove made by shaped hedges, the shrubbery acting as a shade in the summer months and a wind breaker when the cooler air came down from the north in the autumn and winter. A low laying ornamental stone bench had been placed in the small space, and it was upon that that Miss Anne Elliot sat.

Her shoulders where hunched against the cold night air, her shawl wrapped tightly round her small frame and she gazed out into the darkness. The moon was barely in its new phase but it let out enough light to catch the outline of most things. The lights from inside the Great House gave a little extra light, casting shadows on everything.

Breathing deep and schooling his features, he began the short walk towards her.

About half way there his foot landed on a discarded branch, carelessly left in the way, and a large crack sounded through the air, startling Anne (who's thoughts had taken her miles away, a place she would love to be at this time) who leapt off the seat and whirled round to see who was there.

Even if he had not known her half as well, he still would not have been confused by her reaction.

Turning to see him standing there had been a shock, plain and simple, and she had reacted accordingly with the customary gasp, blush and quick turn away. But not before he had seen the pain in her eyes and the river like lines down her cheeks where the tears had fallen not so long ago.

He continued onwards till he was standing beside the bench, finding the currently scenery uninteresting but unable to look in her direction. He was vaguely aware that she attempted to clear her face of any sign that she had been crying but gave up half way through when her tears continued to rain down.

"Are you happy now?" she asked, tilting her head in his direction but at the same time maintaining eye contact with the dark surrounds, either unable or unwilling to look at him. He decided it was most probably the latter. "You have made me feel uncomfortable and ashamed around those that I call friends, if not family"

"I have done no such thing." he replied, even though he knew he had.

"You where never a lair Captain, please do not start know." she said quietly before looking up at him and speaking directly to him "You know I speak the truth."

He turned to her then but had to look away again almost immediately, unable to hold her gaze for long.

The next three words to come out of his mouth seemed small and childish but needed to be said. They and their meaning where most likely behind his personal outburst earlier on this evening, and needed to be voiced before he got too caught up in them before he let them rule over both his heart and his mind.

"You hurt me"

She had been fiddling with the edges of her shawl when he spoke, so sure that he would say no more than that he was heading back to the house and that she should come back inside. When he did speak and she heard what he said, her head snapped around to look at him and she lifted her self from the bench so that she may stand only a foot shorter than him, not the two that differed in their heights while she sat.

"Excuse me?"

"You do remember it do you not? The night you tossed my heart to the dogs, for them to fight over the scraps when it broke into a hundred pieces?" he asked as he met her, stare for stare.

"That does not give you the excuse." she began, her voice low and hard, her words being hissed out through closed teeth. And though she spoke quietly, he still heard every word. It had been a skill he had picked up almost eight years ago and it seemed he had not forgotten it.

"Do you not think that I have been in pain for these past eight years? Do you not think that everyday I have regretted the decision I made?" she stopped for a moment to regard him and to gather her breath before biting on her lower lip.

"Why do you continue to torment me so?" she asked him in earnest "Is it not bad enough that you haunt my dreams at night and my memories during my waking hours, why must you be here in the present as well?"

"_You_ broke _my_ heart." he reminded her.

"You think mine was left in one piece?" she asked in all honesty, her eyes searching his face.

"You where the one who ended it," he stated, raising his voice ever so slightly as if to enforce his words "I assumed you felt nothing"

"Think back to that day Frederick," Anne said catching him of guard by the use of his christian name, the same one that used to fall from her mouth at regular intervals when they had known each other so intimately all those years ago "Did I really look like someone who took any pleasure in their task?"

She was right.

When she had entered into the sitting room that day to receive him, he had been on his feet an instant, believing that something dreadful had befallen her such as the death of a family member for she had looked so pale and fragile. He almost rang for a servant to fetch the surgeon but her hand, settling so briefly on his arm, had assured him that she was fine. Physically at least.

Anne brought him back to the present when she sat suddenly, as though all the fight had left her.

"At the time I did what I thought was the right thing to do"

"Of course," he said with sarcastic overtones "Making me miserable was the right thing to do."

Still carrying around that "I don't really know what I'm doing vibe", he took a seat beside her. Perching on the end of the bench and as close as a couple of inches but still as far away as a couple of miles he sat, and waited for her reply.

"And if we had been married? What then Frederick?" There was the use of his first name again.

"Would you have sailed off on the Asp and become, as you so jokingly put it in there, a few small lines in the paper? Where would that have left me?" she asked, her voice rising as her emotions increased "Alone and desolate with no money, no prospects and no husband."

"It was never certain to happen, and it never did," he said reassuringly as he watched her work herself up into even more of a state than she was already in "I am alive and well."

"You came close to it on several occasions," she pointed out. He opened his mouth then to speak but she cut him off "Do not bother lying about it Frederick. I would read the papers on a daily basis and kept a close eye on the navy lists. When your brother was still around he also kept me informed."

"You spoke with Edward?"

"Your brother spent eight months in the neighbourhood after you left. Do you think I avoided him all that time?" she honestly asked.

She felt, rather than saw him shrug his shoulders "He never mentioned it."

Anne smiled. "My name came up in a lot of conversations then?" she asked.

"Never" he admitted out loud, while privately he said regularly.

"Then I believe you have answered your own question" she said pulling the shawl tighter round her body and shivering in the cool nightly breeze.

"You should return to the house" he said quietly, looking at her.

She shook her head and looked out over the garden, its features bathed in the pale moonlight "I think I'll stay here for a while longer"

"It is cold out here"

"No colder than in there" she answered truthfully, glancing at him from the corner of her eye and almost feeling sorry for the look of guilt that flashed across his features.

_Continue? Leave as is? Bury my head (and laptop) in the sand and never emerge again?_


	2. Chapter 2

_Thank you to everyone who reviewed the first chapter. Personally I'm glad that I don't have to bury my head in the sand and that you liked what I had written. It has taken me a while to get back to this story, something I can blame entirely on my muse. It wanted to do other things. Still does._

_On with the story!_

* * *

Anne had partaken in several awkward silences during her lifetime but the five minutes sitting next to Frederick on the cold stone bench in the side garden, where some of the worst.

Her thoughts where all over the place, refusing to remain still. Her mind continued to work at a high speed, continually asking questions, partly answering them before skipping onto the next or returning to one already asked.

_Why had he come?_

_Why not anyone else?_

_Why does he stay?_

She shivered again, this time more violently than the last. Anne felt him stir beside her but she still refused to look at him with the hope that he might take the hint and go away. The Frederick Wentworth she had known eight years ago had been stubborn, so why she thought this one would be any different she wasn't sure.

She nearly jumped out of her own skin when she felt his fingers brush lightly against her shoulders, and a comforting, heavy weight settled upon them as he draped his jacket over her. Being the size that he was, and size she was, it settled over her like a marquee tent and making her look even smaller than she already was.

"There" he said in a voice that signalled to her that he wasn't too sure of why he had done what he had just did. "Now we shall both freeze."

Trying not to make it too obvious, Anne burrowed deeper into the warm safety of his jacket. Savouring the warmth that lingered within the layers of the fabric and the masculine smell that seemed to be embedded within it. She titled her head towards him, keeping her gaze to the front.

"No one is making you stay. You are free to go at anytime." she told him.

He scoffed.

"My sister would flay me alive if I came back without you."

"Tell her I have returned to the cottage then."

"And have her find out that I lied to her, when they find your stone cold body in the morning?" He snorted. "I think not."

Anne signed. She dropped her gaze downward and her fingers began a gentle examination of the jacket placed over her small body. Specifically towards the waist of the jacket and the buttons that adorned it.

"You shall need to get this mended." She said to him, drawing his attention from the surrounding landscape and to the button that danced lightly over her fingers, hanging by a thread.

She let go of the small brass object and unconsciously lent backwards as his larger hand come into view, closing over the button and examining the stitching.

"Is there anyway you might be convinced to return to the house?" she asked as he ran the button over in his fingers.

"Without you?" he enquired, looking up into her face for confirmation. She nodded.

"No." He replied simply.

She let out a resigned sigh and got gingerly to her feet, unwilling to let it show that the cold had affected her more than she let on. She began to slide his jacket from her shoulders but hand on her arm stopped her.

"Leave it on till we have reached the hallway. A few more minutes in the cold will not kill me." he said, leaning towards her.

She nodded her head and paused to draw the garment closer before taking a step forward, and stumbling. She realised then that she had been sitting out in the cold for far longer than her body could handle. She wasn't a young woman anymore, with the physical ability to abandon herself in a moonlit stroll or in rising early to catch the sunrise sweeping over the horizon, and the sooner I realise that she thought, the better I'll be.

His arms came out to catch her as she pitched forward, tightly gripping at her arms that resided under the cover of his jacket.

Even with that piece of cloth, as well as many others, between his bare hands and her bare skin, the contact was too much and his mind (which he clearly had no control over tonight, or at any time in her presence) instantly flashed back to other, more pleasurable times when she had been in his arms.

Similarly, she had to stifle a grasp when he grabbed her and although she was thankful not to fall flat on her face, she thought she would rather not be reminded how good his hands felt upon her. Even through several layers on clothing.

His hands remained in place as he gently set her right, setting her carefully on her feet as she moved her foot around experimentally. The stumble had caused her to go over on her foot and a mild ache had taken root at her ankle.

"Are you alright?" he enquired, leaning close. The warm air from his words falling upon her neck and cheek and she attempted to regain some of her composure. Setting her foot down heavily, she bit back a yelp before hurriedly drawing her foot up again.

"I think I might have sprained it" she said after a few moments.

Looking up and over her shoulder at him, for he still held onto her, she saw him frown and bite his lower lip. She caught his gaze once more before looking down at the ground again. This night was not turning out as she planned.

"I will carry you to the house" he said suddenly and determinately. As if he had just made up his mind. Sounding as well, as though he had decided to make a sacrifice for the greater good and go through with something he would rather not.

"No you will not." Was her reply.

"Then what do you propose we do? Wait out here till morning and catch a lift with the farmer as he passes to deliver the milk?"

"Don't be silly," she replied, testing the amount of weight she could support with the sore foot "He comes by the other side of the house."

"Oh, well that solves that problem doesn't it."

She frowned at him.

"Stop being so ridiculous Frederick and give me your arm. I am not completely incapable. I shall be able to manage quite fine as long as I have something to lean on." And with that she looked up at him.

He held her gaze for a moment before looking away and shaking his head. Removing his hands from her body, he held an arm out to her as though he was about to escort her for a dance. She laid her hands gently upon his arm and tried to take a step.

He heard her sharp intake of breath as she set her weight on her bad foot, and felt her hands dig into his flesh from the pain. He stilled her with a hand upon her own. Extracting his arm from her grip, he wrapped that one round her waist while the other came round to support her hands, taking both of hers in one of his own.

They took an experimental step together and managed to make a small step forward without falling over, and without him standing on her foot which he had been inclined to do in his early dancing years.

"Is this fine?" he asked.

Although Anne thought it was maybe a bit late to be asking, she nodded at him and the set off at an odd pace. Swaying from side to side as they took step after step, slowly but surly making their way towards the door that lead to inside of the house.

They had reached the door just as it opened and they where bathed in light.

"Frederick?" The voice asked "What the blazes are you doing out there? And Miss Anne, what have you done to her?"

Stepping down from the doorway, Admiral Croft trudged down the stairs towards them.

"She tripped" Captain Wentworth told him as he reached them, the Admiral holding out an arm for Anne to take.

"Over your feet I have no doubt" the Admiral said to him before speaking to Anne "If he ever asks you to dance Miss Anne, pretend your dance card is full. Never in my life have I seen such a man who has all the grace while at sea, but none on the dance floor."

"Sir I don't think,"

"Nonsense Frederick. Young women always want to hear humorous stories about the men that they know. Is that not right Miss Anne?"

Anne was spared from answering when another figure stepped into the doorway, momentarily blocking the light from shining out into the night. Addressing the man, Admiral Croft bade him to fetch his wife from the dining room and to make sure that there was a fire going in the library, where they would be heading.

Each taking one of her arms, and taking as much of her weight as they could (which was quite a lot considering the petite size of her), they helped her up the stairs. Almost lifting her entirely from the ground as they marched up the steps and down the corridor, and into the library.

The two men placed Anne upon the settee and while the Admiral began looking for a foot stool, Captain Wentworth stepped back from the situation. Distancing himself from Anne.

The all looked up when a noise was heard from the open door, to find Mrs Croft standing there, one hand on her hip while the other rested lightly over her mouth as she took in the sight in front of her.

"I'm afraid my dear," he began as he settled Anne down on the chair, raising her foot up (with her permission of course) on to the stool, Captain Wentworth's jacket still clinging to her shoulders. "That Miss Anne has taken a bit of a tumble and hurt her ankle."

Mrs Croft stood in the doorway for a moment, a small frown upon her face as she looked at her brother before pulling the servants cord that hung in the doorway and moving into the room to sit by Anne.

"I thought you where going to fetch her Frederick, not injure her" she said as she took in Anne's pale appearance. Settling herself beside the younger woman, she asked Anne for her permission before lifting her foot and examining it.

"Why does everyone assume I somehow caused this?" Frederick asked as he stomped over to the drinks cabinet and poured himself a large drink while his sister continued her examination.

"It wasn't his fault Mrs Croft" said Anne, speaking up for the first time since she had entered the house. "I had stayed too long out doors and my legs just did not want to cooperate."

"Then he should have brought you indoors sooner, then we would not be in this situation"

"I could not make her do something she did not want to do" Frederick replied angrily, causing Mrs Croft to lift her eyebrows and look at him.

"Oh Anne!" Came the sudden cry as Mary came dashing into the room. "What have you done to yourself? Oh I knew Charles should have gone with you. Didn't I not say that? Did I not say you should have gone with her Charles? Oh Anne, who is going to help me now?"

Anne caught Mrs Croft and Frederick sharing look with another and felt my cheeks burn. She truly did love her sister, but often missed the years when she had been away at school for a couple of months at a time. She could be a bit…intense at times. Especially if you have not been used to her.

"I'm fine Mary, don't fuss" she said, trying to deflect her sister before she went too far. Unfortunately she was too late.

"Don't fuss? Don't fuss? What am I meant to do if I don't fuss? You are my sister, who else is going to fuss about you if I do not?" Mary plopped herself down in the seat nearest her, and with handkerchief in her hand, she began to fan herself down. Breathing deeply she signalled to a servant and requested a glass of wine to steady her nerves.

"I do not think Miss Anne shall be taking care of anyone but herself for a little while" Mrs Croft said as she gently lowered Anne's foot to the foot stool, turning to Mary as the younger woman let out a high pitched laugh.

"My dear Mrs Croft I don't think you know my sister at all. She will be as right as rain tomorrow. Up and about playing with the children as though nothing happened. Is that not right Anne?" Mary barely spared her older sister a look before turning back to Mrs Croft "Besides, I need her help with little Charles so no doubt she will be fine."

Smiling politely Mrs Croft nodded to her before turning his attention back to Anne.

"Though I am no doctor, I think you might have sprained your ankle" she said, smiling down at the young woman by her side. Patting her hand comfortingly, she continued "I am absolutely certain though, that you should not be putting any weight on it for a few days. You shall have to let others take care of you for a change."

Anne opened her mouth to answer, but Mary got there first.

"I'm afraid that's just not possible Mrs Croft. Anne does not like to be idle, she is always here and there doing this and that."

"I think," Mrs Croft began, after getting an approving glance from her husband. She would have done what she was going to do anyway, but it was always nice to let Mr Croft feel like he had a say in the matter. "That you Miss Anne, should come and stay with us for a little while."

She turned in her seat to look at the man standing by the fireplace, a glass of port paused halfway to his mouth as his head whipped round to stare at his sister.

"What do you think Frederick?"

_What do you think, dear reader?_


	3. Chapter 3

_A shortish filler chapter. We get to see more from Anne and Frederick in the next chapter, and Sophia learns a little bit more about what went on between the two of them all those years ago. __I got bored at work the other night, so now I have it all planned out._

_Isaboo - I completely understand. I get the same way. Even just thinking in an Austen-esq. style, sends my writing in a different direction._

* * *

Although she had asked him, Frederick didn't really have a say in the matter.

When he had finally been able to make his vocal cords and brain work in coalition with one another, the outcome was already decided and nothing he had been able to say, and he wasn't able to say a terrible lot without revealing more than he wanted to, was able to change his sisters mind. She was adamant.

Anne would spend a couple of days at Kellynch.

The decision was not without its problems. The main ones heralding from the direction of Mary and her assistance that she would not be able to cope without her elder sister by her side, especially at a time like this, when her little boy was unwell and she was unable to manage the two of them on her own let alone look after her own, failing health.

It was Charles that reminded her that they did in fact employ a nurse who should be more than capable of the task of taking care of the boys, and a maid who could be at her beck and call should she require it.

Over the next hour or so, when servants where sent to the cottage to pack Anne's things, Mary continued her triad. Finally resorting to tears to make Anne stay for no one was like Anne, no one understood her like her sister Anne did. Why did she have to leave her now, when she needed her the most?

Anne, who wasn't too happy with the idea of heading back to her childhood home, even if it was only for a short time, especially with him there, sat mainly in silence as she listened to her sister resort to almost everything to make her stay where she was.

She had opened her mouth at one point and began to acquest to her sisters request that she remain with her but Mrs Croft had laid a hand firmly upon her arm, gave her a certain look and told Mary that it would be impossible for Anne to be any help in that state that she was in, offering the use of one of their own personal servants till Anne could be returned to them.

In the end Charles had settled the matter, taking his wife through to another room to have a word with her before returning a short while later to inform them all that they would be retiring early that night. After saying goodnight to his parents and sister, he had stepped up to Anne and gave her a brotherly kiss on the cheek before telling her to take her time getting better and not to rush things. They could do without her for a while.

When Anne's stuff had finally been brought back up from the cottage and stowed safely in the carriage, the small group had bide their farewells and Anne was bundled into the couch. She sat opposite the Admiral and Mrs Croft, and moved as far to the left as possible when she realised that Frederick would have to take the seat right next to her.

She needn't have bother though, as when he saw the only seat remaining was next to her he stepped back, away from the carriage and shut the door.

"Frederick, what are you doing?" Mrs Croft asked as she lowered then lent out the carriage window, observing her brother as though she'd never seen him before.

"I think I'll ride up top tonight" was what he said before they felt the carriage shift as he climbed up beside the driver.

"Frederick you'll freeze" Mrs Croft cried out as the began to move, travelling away from the Great House and down the road.

"I'll be fine" came his reply.

Mrs Croft shared a look with her husband before sitting back and enjoying the ride back to Kellynch.

Anne couldn't help but feel a stab of pain at his reluctance to even been in the same space as her. Although she understood it was going to be…difficult for the two of them to exist in the same area without having some tension but she thought that they could both be adult about it.

"_Obliviously I was wrong" _she thought bitterly, resting her head against the side of the carriage and they trundled along the road, hitting every bump in the road, jolting the carriage from right to left.

She hadn't been looking forward to staying at Mary's with a slight disability. Mary wouldn't have held back even though Anne was injured, and would still have expected her to do that same chores she had been doing previously. Anne's only saving grace was that Charles was still incapacitated and she would have been put in charge of looking after him. They would have made a right pair, him with his broken collar bone and her with her sprained ankle.

In all honesty, when Mrs Croft had offered her suggestion of a place to stay for a little while, she had been relieved. After a minute or two however, when she realised that she would be effectively staying with Frederick, the idea terrified her.

The whole situation, and how uncomfortable it would be, all depended on how Frederick and her got along in each others company. If things where to continue how they had started, she was going to be requesting to go back to Mary's sooner rather than later.

Something would have to be done. She just wasn't sure what.

Sophia Croft was used to taking care of people. A skill that had steamed from her days as an older sister to two young boys who had no mother to call their own, and often as the only woman upon a ship full of men, a lot of them under the age of twenty and many a lot younger. They had all required some mothering in one way or another. Whether it was someone to sit by them while the sweated out a fever or help with darning their socks.

What she wasn't used to however, was her youngest brother acting the way he was.

When the carriage had finally pulled to a halt outside the back doors of Kellynch Hall, Frederick had jumped from the top and hurried in doors, blaming the cold and the need for a warm fire for his quick retreat inside.

Though Sophia thought this might be the case, especially when they helped Anne out and discovered that she still wore Frederick's Navel jacket, the rest of his behaviour was unexplainable. Why had he sat up by the driver when there had been a seat free inside the carriage? And without a jacket to keep the night from bay?

She had also not missed the look that Anne had given him when he had retreated into the house. Although she wasn't able to pin point it exactly, she would say that it carried with it a mixture of disappointment and longing and a tad bit of annoyance. A strange combination from one who had only just met him.

It was as the Admiral helped Anne indoors, that Sophia remembered the conversation she had had with Anne on the very first day that she had met her, and the letter that had come a couple of weeks previous from her other brother Edward.

He had been in the area several years ago, serving at the local parish temporarily, and had remarked at the fact of them renting out Kellynch and asking whether or not the Elliot's had moved away from the place. Was one of them in bad health?

She must really dig that letter out as she was sure that Edward had mentioned Miss Anne in his letter. Perhaps she would ask Anne about it. It had seemed from earlier conversation that Anne had remembered her brother and he, her.

Thinking back, she wasn't sure whether Frederick had been in the country at the time. It had been early on in Frederick's career that Edward had been in the area, early in Edward's career as well, so must have been at least six years ago. Or was that seven? It was definitely not more than ten, she was certain of that.

She would look for the letter in the morning and maybe draft another to Edward, though she had only sent off one a couple of days previous. Perhaps even extent an invitation for it was not that long a distance to Monkford, he would surely know all that was to be known.

She wasn't usually one to pry into other people's affairs, but this was her brother. So it was a completely different kettle of fish.


	4. Chapter 4

_Wireless internet access is so hard to come across in Australia..._

* * *

Anne sat on the edge of the bed in one of the guest rooms of Kellynch, as the maid removed her clothes from the trunk and placed them in there place in the dressing room and in the chest of drawers. Folding them away neatly and in there proper place.

Moving about the room, Maisy, the young maid who had been recommended to the Crofts by Anne herself, through the solicitors, pottered about the room, humming to herself. Happy that her mistress was back in the house, if not in her rightful place as the head of the household, then staying in the house for the time being and hopefully a little while longer.

It was an odd feeling to be back at Kellynch, let alone be housed within the guest quarters, Anne thought to herself as she flattened her hand against the bedcovers. She had her doubts when she had left, if she would ever spend the night beneath the houses ceiling once again, but here she was, not one week later. Within twelve hours she would be walking the same corridors and perching on the same window seats as she perused a book from the main library.

She thought to herself that the Crofts must have use of the master bedroom or at least one of the larger rooms in the family wing, but she was unsure to where Captain Wentworth might be staying. Was he per chance, staying in her old room?

The prospect that he might be, gave her a strange feeling.

She was unsure as to whether he knew which had been hers, if he had maybe guessed when shown round the place, or if he had merely requested a room in a little used part of the house. If he had then there would be a great possibility that he was roomed not far from where she was. Not that it would make any difference. There would be no moonlit strolls and meetings at dawn this time round. She thought to herself, that she would be lucky to see him at all.

A soft knock at the door interrupted her thoughts, bringing her back to the present with an unpleasant thump. Opening the door, Maisy stepped aside to admit Mrs Croft. The elder woman glanced around the room and was glad to see that the fire had been stoked, as per orders, and was going away quite happily. Warming the room and chasing away the musty smell that had settled in it from years of little usage.

"I realise that this room may not be what your used too, Miss Anne," She said as she came into the room, allowing the maid to slip out of the door behind her and head down to the kitchens to pick up a warm tray of food for the young mistress. "But I hope that it shall be comfortable enough for your stay with us."

Anne shook her head with a smile. "I am almost certain that this room is even nicer than my own was, when I stayed here; and as long as I have a comfy bed and some room to move about, then I shall be happy," she told Mrs Croft. "Not that I am able to do much of the latter at the present."

"Then let us hope that it does not take you too long to recover your full mobility Miss Anne. I have been told that some of the walks in the area are simply spectacular, and would very much like a guide to show me round."

"Please, Mrs Croft. If I am to be your guest then you must insist that you call me Anne."

"Only if you remember that may name is Sophia, and not Mrs Croft my dear," Sophia told her. She came and sat next to Anne on the bed for a few moments, before getting up and helping Maisy when she arrived with a tray of tea and biscuits.

"I shall leave you to rest now," Sophia told her after they had sorted the tea things out. "But I hope that, if you are able, you will join us for breakfast in the morning? Just let Maisy know. Otherwise I shall have a tray sent up; but I know that my husband will be disappointed. I think he is looking for someone new to regale with tales of his days at sea."

"I imagine you have some tales to tell as well ma'am," Anne said. Slowly she made her way, by herself, across the room and into the seat by the window, next to the table of food and drink.

"Oh I do, but he always wants to tell his first. So I let him," she smiled at the younger woman. "It is one of the few things I allow him full reign of in our marriage."

The old, grandfather clock in the hallway chimed twelve and Mrs Croft started.

"I did not realise it was so late," she said, looking over Anne's shoulder and out into the night, for the curtains had yet to be drawn. "I had better go and say goodnight to my brother. Take care of yourself Anne, and if there are any problems during the night, sent the maid to fetch me or my husband."

She nodded once more to Anne and to Maisy before departing the room, closing the door quietly behind her. Anne sighed heavily and lent back into the chair, letting her eyelids fall down and enclose her world in darkness.

It was only when there was another knock at the door just moments later, and Anne started, her hand brushing against a loose thread and a lost button, that she realised she was still wearing his jacket.

Whilst Anne sat silently pondering her situation in one of the rooms upstairs, Frederick prowled the downstairs library in a rather noisy gait, in an attempt to regain the feeling in his outer extremities, the sensations he had lost whilst riding with the driver on the ride back.

Even if you had asked him now, he still would not be able to tell you what had possessed him to do it, when riding inside the carriage, especially for such a short distance, would have been simpler.

"And a might warmer" he thought to himself as he paused by the fire. Rubbing his hands against one another, he tried to get the blood flowing again.

Drawing a chair forward he fell into it, resting his feet on the outer fire grate after he had toed his boots off, wriggling his toes in the light and heat of the freshly stoked fireplace.

Appearing by his side, the Admiral passed him a large glass of brandy, before settling himself down the settee with a glass of his own. They both, neither of them, said a word as the minutes ticked by and Frederick once again felt as though he was a human being, and not an intricate ice sculpture like the one he had once seen during a brief stop in Iceland.

They were still in the same positions when Sophia returned from upstairs. Entering the library with his jacket in one hand, while the other brushed down the imaginary creases and wrinkles that she had imagined where there.

When Frederick saw what she carried, his hand instantly went to his chest, and it was at that moment that he himself realised that he had given it to Anne, and had not had it returned. No wondered he had been so cold on the journey home.

Sophia hung it upon the back of the chair in which he sat, before saying to him, "Anne had completely forgot that she had this, and I must confess, that so did I." She eyed the jacket closely as she took a seat beside her husband.

"You are missing a button Frederick," she told him, as her gaze fell upon the breast of his jacket, and the awards that adorned the left panel of it.

He felt round with his hand, and sure enough, the button that had been pointed out as loose, had been lost in transit. He would have to find another, though he didn't think he had one on him and a trip to the outfitters was to be called for.

"I have settled Anne in upstairs, and I have made it known, that if she is able, we would like to see her join us for breakfast," Sophia told her husband. The Admiral nodded to her before taking another sip of his drink, enjoying some of the fine brandy that had been left in the house by Sir Walter for their enjoyment.

"Anne?" Frederick asked, turning so that his back was to the fire, his front to his sister.

"Yes, Anne," she replied, "It makes sense, even if she is to only to be with us for a short time, for us to be on a first name basis with her, and her with us."

"Do you think it possible, my dear, that I shall be able to persuade her to call me," the Admiral began, before his wife patted him on the arm and bade him to stop.

"I think she shall do just as well to call you the Admiral my dear, and Frederick shall be Captain, or Captain Wentworth. I should hate to inconvenience the poor child, by having her remember all your forenames."

"I was not insisting she use them all," he told her with a smile, "One or two would suffice."

Frederic turned back to the fire with a shake of his head.

Many years ago, eight to be exact, he had dreamed and imagined how his family should be with Anne, and her with them. Every time he had thought of it, every scenario he pictured them in, his family had always welcomed her with open arms, and she had taken to them instantly, and them to her. There had never been any resentment on either side, no disagreements and no disapproving glances. His sister would tell him, after they had been in each others company only once, that Anne was the sweetest most mild tempered girl she had ever met, and that she could imagine no one more suited to Frederick than her.

Of course, his day dreams had been shattered that mid morning in the very study down the hall, and his dreams had turned bitter, if only for a short time. He imagined them meeting by chance, him rich and powerful with the most beautiful and accomplished woman on his arm and in his heart; her in a loveless marriage to some evil tyrant, being scorned by his family when they found out who she was.

The dreams always took a turn though, as his mind thought of ways to detached her from her husband, to see her settled more happily, be it on her own or with another. He could never see her in pain, even when he tried. His family in his mind always pitted her when they learnt the truth, speaking to her in kindness and declaring her later to be a fine woman, one they where disappointed was not to be part of their family.

Whatever the setting, his sister had always found her the most charming woman. Though not the most handsome of woman, Sophia would see Anne for who she really was; a truly remarkable woman. One who she would be glad to call sister, and friend.

And here they where now, even after all that had passed. After all the pain and heartache, of which his sister knew nothing, and still she found her charming and worth knowing. Frederick had always respected Sophia, and her ability to discern one's character, and on this matter he knew her to be right.

He could not help be think, that fate was a cruel, cruel being. To throw them together once more, and under the same roof, her former abode; it was intorably cruel. Even more so, to have her so well thought of by his brother and sister, not even to mention Edward, who thought her one of the greatest woman of his acquaintance. Well…it was just cruel.

A small part of him, tiny in comparison to the other, pitted her. To be once more residing in her old childhood home, though without the familiar comforts and staying as a guest, must sadden her. To be in such close quarters to him, to be thrust into his company when she had already made it quite clear it was a pain to her, pained him as well, though only a bit. Part of him said, let her suffer, she deserves it.

He was unable to continue with his train of thought as the fire suddenly crackled, and the sound brought another to his ears. That of his sister calling his name.

"Frederick, did the cold damage your hearing as well? I have been calling you for the last five minutes," she said to him.

"My apologies, Sophia, I was lost in thought."

"Some dark thought it must have been too, my dear, for it has been a long time since I saw him look so long in the face," the Admiral supplied, earning him a dark glance from Frederick himself.

"I was saying, Frederick, that I was thinking of inviting Edward and his wife down for a week sometime. I understand that he was well acquainted with Anne when he had the curacy of Monkford. What do you think, Frederick?"


	5. Chapter 5

_For smallrose, and in homour of the fact that I, once again, have internet access._

_Another chapter due up on Monday._

As like earlier, Frederick could have said what he liked, none of it would have made the slightest of difference to Sophia.

As it was, Frederick did dearly like to see his brother, for they had not been in company for eight long years, but the thought of having someone so knowledgeable about the whole ordeal in such close quarters, so positively terrifying, and it was Frederick's suggestion that perhaps the leave off inviting Edward for the time being, him only just being married and all. Surely he wanted some quality time with his wife.

Sophia was decided though. It had been at least four years since she had had a brief visit with her other brother, and was eager to have the whole family together once more. Even so now that Edward was married and there was a possibility of there being additions to the family further down the line.

A letter to Edward, inviting him and his new wife to Kellynch, was dispatched the very next morning, straight after breakfast. With a reply expected within the week, with hopefully Edward following not long after.

Anne was barely up and dressed, having struggled with her sore foot which had swollen and stiffened through the night, when there was a knock at the door. It woke her up once or twice when she had moved and caught it on the bed covers, causing her to cry out from the pain.

Maisy opened the door to reveal the Admiral on the other side, and on the request of Anne, stepped a side to allow him in to the room.

Brandishing what looked like a walking stick, and a smile, Admiral Croft greeted her warmly and asked how her night had been, frowning when she told him it had not been that good before showing him her foot, which had been bound up with bandages from top to bottom. It had been so swollen this morning that she had been unable to fit her shoe on that foot and currently only had on a think pair of stockings.

"Well," said the Admiral, "I have brought you something that might be of some use, or it may not." And he presented her with the walking stick.

"I was saying to Sophy last night," he continued as he watched her take it and examine the intricately carved handle, "That we must help you get around in any way that we can, and she suddenly remembered that I had been gifted a walking stick by a man at the Cape after we picked him up when he got stuck in a remote part of the country, and ferried him round to civilisation."

It was a lovely design, the lines weaving in and out of one another, but in a ordered manner. The symbols dotted around the base of the head where unknown to Anne but she suspected that they where African, as was the figure head. She had seen to little foreign objects, bar those in books, that this fascinated her, and while the Admiral continued to talk, she continued to examine it, running her hands over and over the wood, marvelling in the textures.

"And I knew I had it somewhere, and when I woke this morning I suddenly said to myself 'it is in such a place', and it was." She nodded to him, setting the stick on the ground and tested its strength.

"The follow, a Mr Livingstone I believe, said that it had been whittled from one of the oldest tree's in central Africa, after it had been knocked over during a storm. It served me well when I damaged my leg in the Indies, and I'm sure Sophy has even had her use of it once or twice."

"Thank you, Sir," Anne said, lifting herself from her seat with a little help and leaning her weight upon the stick. Surprisingly she felt rather secure, and took a couple of awkward steps forward, unused to the walking implement.

"If you do not mind, Miss Anne, I shall escort you down to breakfast, and you may make full use of my arm as you get used to your new aid." He held his arm out and she grasped it.

Watching her feet, and moving the stick in time with her sore foot, she managed to make it to the top of the stairs without too much difficulty. The stairs however, where a different matter.

With the Admiral standing a couple of steps lower down, with one of her hands upon his shoulder and the other on the wooden banister, she made her way slowly down. The Admiral talked all the way, telling her of how they had done something similar on one of the journey's he had been on, only they had had to carry an injured man down the side of a mountain and not just a few stairs. He kept the conversation up, that they reached the bottom in no time at all, and Anne forgot about the pain in her foot for a little while.

When they entered the breakfast room, the found Sophia sitting all alone and looking slightly upset over something. As the Admiral pulled out a seat, and helped Anne into it, he looked towards his wife and asked her what the matter was.

"Oh it is Frederick," she said, picking up her napkin from the table and waving it about a bit before settling it on her lap before grabbing herself a piece of toast and the butter.

"Is the lazy blighter still in his bed? Shall I go and rouse him?" the Admiral asked, gesturing towards the door and beyond it, the stairs.

"You are about a couple of hours too late, my dear, he was up early this morning, then in and out of breakfast in fives minutes. He would not even stay to say good morning to you and Anne." She shook her head, clearly disappointed in his behaviour.

"Well then, I am sure we can make do without him. I'm not sure if you know, Miss Anne, that he is not much of a conversationalist in regards to women anyway." The Admiral told her.

"I'm sure he would have made the effort for our guest," Sophia said as she made a start on her breakfast, watching as Anne helped herself to a few things, before urging her to take a little more and pile it upon her plate.

Once they where all settled and eating, Sophia began to question Anne on how her night had been. Had she slept well? Had her foot bothered her? Was it still painful this morning? Did she think they would need to call the surgeon to look at it?

Anne answered her questions the best that she could whilst eating her breakfast. At the moment, she didn't think that her foot needed to attentions of a surgeon but if it did not get better within the next couple of days then she would see one. She reiterated her thanks for them taking her in, and once again hoped she wasn't being a burden and suggested that she might go back to Uppercross later on in the day, or early the next.

Sophia waved away her concerns, and told Anne that she was welcome to stay for as long as she wanted, or needed. It was no trouble to them, and they had plenty of room.

As breakfast continued, the conversation changed and even though Sophia continued to look out of the window for the rest of the morning, Frederick did not re-appear.

When they had all finished, they moved into the sitting room. The Admiral left the two ladies alone there and went off to deal with his own business for an hour or so, clearly unused to being away from his wife for long periods of time.

Sophia was not expecting any callers this morning, something which was a novelty for her in any case after being so long at sea, but she had the tea things set up anyway for her and Anne, with extra's if needed. While the elder woman sat and asked questions on the surrounding area, Anne experimentally wondered round the room with the stick. Gaining confidence.

Once she had tired herself out, Anne sat down beside Sophia and gratefully accepted a glass of cold lemonade from her. It was while Anne was occupied with her drink that Sophia began to talk.

"I sent a letter off to Edward this morning," Sophia said, pulling at a stray thread on one of the cushions that littered the settee. "We have invited him and his wife, Lauren, to visit us as soon as they can. You knew Edward quite well, did you not?

Anne swallowed audibly.

"Yes," she finally said, her mouth suddenly dry even though she had just taken a sip of juice. "Though it has been a long time since we last met. It has been eight years, I doubt whether he would remember me that well."

"He remembers you very well, and speaks of you warmly in his letters to me. It was his hope, that you would still be in the area when we came, and that we would be able to pass on information about you."

"I am glad that he has found memories of his time here, and providing I am still in the area, I would not be sorry to see him again." Anne said truthfully.

When he had been in the area, even before the whole situation with Frederick, even before he was on the scene, she had often taken the walk down to Monkford to call upon the new curate Mr Edward Wentworth. She had enjoyed their conversations. It had been there, after a heavy rain storm had sent her scurrying the last half mile to his small cottage, that she had met Frederick in the vestibule, himself fresh from Portsmouth and caught in the same rain storm.

Edward Wentworth had been out at that time doing his daily rounds in the surrounding area, and the housekeeper had sent them both into the study to dry off, the door remained open the entire time so that she could keep an eye on the pair of them. Miss Elliot she knew, would not be any hassle, but she knew nothing of this new man. Mr Wentworth's brother he might be, but that did not mean that he had the same temperament and manners. For all she had known, he could have been a scallywag or a scoundrel.

Little did either of them know, nor Edward when he had returned from his trip to see some of his flock, that that would be the beginning of a long and bumpy road. One they had yet to come to the end of.

The front door went, and while Sophia hastily rearranged the tea things, for she had eaten a fair few small cakes and the plate now looked a little lopsided, Anne was able to gather her thoughts.

Edward was probably going to come, Anne thought to herself. Almost definitely not this week, maybe the next, or perhaps the week after, but he was going to be here and she, most likely, was going to be in the same area. She did not dread his coming as much as she had done Fredericks, though once he has here, he would know what all the little looks where about. All the little glances, all the ice cold silences, all the hard words spoken and that caused her a small bit of anxiety.

The latter would probably stop, for even after the whole incident, when he had waved his brother off with his broken heart trailing along behind him, Edward had still sought her company and would not hear a bad word against her. He had seen what calling off the engagement had done to her, he had even offered to write on her behalf to Frederick which she had refused. Till the end of his curacy, they had remained in constant contact and she had been sorry to see him, and his information about Frederick, leave.

If it had been proper and right, they would have written one another, but it would have sent warning bells to elder adults on each side. A young unmarried man, writing to a young unmarried lady who was not his sister or family member, would have caused suspicion and rumours that neither needed nor desired.

The door to the front sitting room opened, and the butler announced "Miss Louisa, and Miss Henrietta Musgrove" before stepping to the side and allowing the two young ladies to scurry into the room, their eyes darting all over the room as if Mrs Croft and Anne where not the only two in the room and that Captain Wentworth was hiding behind the curtains, ready to jump out at them for a surprise any moment now.

After all the formalities, and how'd you do's where out of the way and girls sat down, though both seemed on edge as though they where about to jump from them once again.

"We where sorry to loose you and your party so early last night, Mrs Croft," Henrietta said. She turned as though to speak to Anne, but Louisa cut in before she had the chance to open her mouth.

"Is Captain Wentworth not with you this morning?" she asked.

"No," Sophia shook her head, "He has gone out on an early morning ride, and we do not know what time to expect him back."

"In which direction did he head?"

"I'm afraid I have no idea, Miss Musgrove."

"Do you think the stable hands might know?"

"They might, but if he is on horse back then you will be lucky to catch him."

The expression on Louisa's face fell. Looking sideways at Henrietta, she rose again. Her sister a second or two behind her, her expression masked in confusion.

"Well, we must be off," Louisa said, taking a couple of steps towards the door. "Please inform Captain Wentworth, when he returns, that we shall be at Uppercross all afternoon should he wish to call."

And with that, they where gone. Henrietta shot them an apologetic glance over her shoulder, before hurrying after her sister and the two could be seen through the large double windows, heading towards the stables to interrogate the stable hand.

"Well," said Sophia when they had left and no longer could be seen. "That was short, though not very sweet."

Anne sat in an embarrassed silence. Ashamed for her relations actions, and at how Sophia would now regard her; poor little Anne Elliot, with no one to care for her or mind how she was doing.

"I wonder," Sophia began, as the two girls could be seen again. This time crossing over the hill in the near distance, "Whether we have been two hasty to mark those girls as possible brides for Frederick. Now that I have spent a short amount of time in their presence, and it was short was it not?" she said to Anne. "I really wonder if either of them are right for him."

* * *


	6. Chapter 6

_...hmmm...for some reason, my move to the other side of the world has caused me to lose my alerts - story, review, new chapter...or do people down under just not get them?_

_Part artistic lisence, part I think he might do something like that to however asked. I'm also protrying the Musgrove girls slightly out of character. I can almost guarantee you wont all like Frederick in this chapter either, he does get a bit mean. We have to take a step back to start going forward._

_This is the last day I can guarantee that I will have internet access til the 20th July. So there might not be any updates for a while. Never fear though, I am writing continuously and there shall be major posting once I reach Sydney._

_Farewell for now..._

Frederick did not reappear at lunch, nor was he anywhere to be seen throughout the whole afternoon when the rain came down over Kellynch Hall for a short time and created puddles on the ground.

He was not seen, till an hour before dinner when he sneaked into the house via the servants entrance. Soaked to the skin, his clothes hanging of him and leaving splashes of water on the newly washed floor, he had made his way almost all the way up to his room before he was spotted by Sophia.

She just stood there and raised her eyebrows at him questioningly before shaking her head and walking in the opposite direction.

Frederick slipped into his room and rang for a servant to draw him a bath.

Sinking into the hot, slightly scolding water and letting the days grime wash from his body, Frederick thought over the day and his decision to stay out of the house. He told himself again, for about the hundredth time that day, that he had merely done it as a chance to stretch his legs. Something he did not have the opportunity to do often since for the last eight year or so, he had frequently been stuck on a ship, and that it had nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that he wished to avoid one Anne Elliot.

No, not at all.

After he was dressed and looked well enough to be part of polite society once again, he left his room and began to make his way down to dinner which about to be called shortly. He did not get very far though, and ran straight into Sophia just outside his room and it was clear from her expression that she had been waiting some time for him to emerge from the safety of his own quarters.

Sophia did not say anything for a full minute, but did not back down from her stance in front of him. Clearly waiting for him to admit that it had been terribly rude of him to be gone for the whole day without a word of where he was going, and when he would be back.

He was unwilling to break the silence, still fooling himself that his reasons for being gone all day where not selfish or rude, but where for his own benefit and that of his health.

"And where exactly, did you go today Frederick?" she began, fixing him with a frightful stare that he had not seen from her since he had been but a young boy. Back then it had made him cower and obedient, now it merely set his heart beating a little faster and make him feel slightly guilty.

Not that he had anything to feel guilty about, mind you, he reminded himself.

"Just about," was his eventual reply. "I took the opportunity to stretch my legs while I had the chance."

"Did you really have to be gone for the whole day though, Frederick?" she admonished. "You left Anne with only us old people to entertain her, when I am certain that she would have preferred your company."

Frederick doubted this very much but decided that the best course of action was to keep his mouth shut and not say a word on the matter.

"Besides," Sophia continued as they set of down the hall and towards the stairs, "You missed your lady callers."

"Callers?" he queried.

"The young Miss Musgroves called this morning, hoping to find you present and available at their beck and call."

"Really?"

"Yes. They stayed but five minutes once the knew you where not around, and set of in search of you."

"Well, they did not find me."

"And I am glad of it."

"You are?" They paused at the foot of the stairs and he turned towards her.

"They are not the type of girls I thought they where. In the whole time that they visited, not once did they asked how Anne was doing though they knew she was injured, and left almost immediately after. No manners at all. No, you would be a fool indeed if you settled on either one of them."

The continued on their path towards the dining room, but fell short when they passed the library and heard laughing coming from within. Pushing the door open, Sophia and Frederick observed that the Admiral and Anne where seated within, both of them red faced with laughter and merriment.

"Ah, Sophy, my dear. I was just telling Miss Anne, about my attempt at spear fishing in the Indies," he said, standing and greeting his wife warmly.

Since their renewed acquaintance, Frederick had never seen Anne so alive and animated. She was positively glowing, and her eyes where wide with wonder. Her smile was broad as she observed the Admiral and his sister interact with one another and it only diminished in size when she caught sight of him standing, unmoving, in the doorway.

Instantly the light was gone from her face, and once more she was still. As if waiting to see what he would do, or how he would react to the situation she had placed herself in, laughing and joking away with his family as though there was no such history between the two of them.

Before another word so spoke however, the bell for dinner went and the next hour or so was taken up with eating, and in Anne's case, listening to the Admiral and his wife discuss their present business and recount days at sea.

It was later, when they removed to the library, that the conversation turned once again and Anne found herself at the centre of it.

"Miss Elliot, you know Frederick, is very knowledgeable in regards to the navy," he told his brother, who himself paused, with his glass on the way to his mouth and stared at her. Anne turned her face away in embarrassment.

"Really?"

"Indeed," the Admiral boasted. "I was able to talk about different categories, and styles of ships, and she was able to understand me. I only had to stop once or twice to explain myself."

"Do you have acquaintances employed in the navy, Anne?" Sophia asked.

"No, I do not," Anne replied, still not looking in Fredericks direction. "I often found the time, there being so little to do in the area during the winter months, to follow the action abroad in the papers, and from there, my interest grew." It was not the whole truth, she thought, but it would satisfy.

If Frederick doubted her reason, then he said nothing. Any further explanation would surely, only cause harm, to both him and herself, and drag to the forefront a past that he no longer wanted to visit.

"Yes," said the Admiral, continuing down the same line of conversation much to the private wishes of both Anne and Frederick. "I had noticed the navy lists amongst the book on the shelves. I had assumed they where your fathers."

"And that is what happens when you assume something, my dear," Sophia said to him. "Now, Anne, are you going to be staying in the area for long?"

"I am here until," she paused momentarily "Until Lady Russell returns and can convey me to my family."

"They have settled somewhere pleasant for you I hope."

"I will rejoin them in Bath."

"You hate Bath."

The outburst was sudden, and so fiercely spoken that the occupants of the entire room turned towards him and regarded him with such an open expression of astonishment, that he wished he had not spoken and could slink into the darkness in the corners of the room.

"You forget, Captain Wentworth, that I am a single female, unable to go where I please. I must rejoin my family, and they have settled on Bath as their new home. I would have preferred somewhere in the country, but I must defer to them."

"I think the two of you are holding out on us," Sophia told them both after a moment, looking from her brother to Anne, and then back again.

"Sophia?" Frederick questioned, drawing his gaze away from Anne and looking at his sister.

"I knew the two of you where a little acquainted from before, but the knowledge you have of Anne, Frederick, leads me to think that you where in each others company more often than not."

"We, urg," Frederick began, averting his eyes from the others in the room, stumbling over his words.

"We weren't really in one another's company often. Perhaps once or twice each week, and never enough to form a close acquaintance."

"But you are better acquainted with my other brother?"

"Yes, but it was towards the end of his tenure, when Captain Wentworth had already left the area, that I really became close friends with him," and at that, Anne felt she was unable to go. Speaking for so long, and about such a subject, left her feeling drained.

The conversation drifted then, and Anne had a little time to recover. Sophia, seeing that she was tired, did the hostess thing and excused her for the night. Telling her that she did not need to stay up just because they where. Thinking she was doing Anne a favour, she procured Frederick as her escort up the stairs.

"Really, Sophia, I can manage on my own well enough," Anne said, as Frederick started,

"I'm sure the Admiral would be more suited,"

"You are not skirting from your duties I hope, Frederick," the Admiral asked him, glancing at his brother in law over the book he had picked up during a lull in the conversation.

Hesitantly Frederick rose and crossed the room to her. Extending his hand to Anne, he slowly raised his eyes from his hand up to her eyes and saw her doing the same to him.

Anne wasn't sure of what to do, or more accurately, what to think. She let her eyes drift from his out stretched hand, over his middle, up and over his chest. She watched it expand when he took a breath, and cave when he exhaled. Her gaze flittered over his face, taking in the contours that she had once known better than her own face, and how they had changed over the years.

Swallowing, she reached her own hand out and he grasped it. With his help she pulled herself to her feet. Bidding Sophia and the Admiral good night, they exited the room and headed to stairs and up to the bedrooms.

They walked in silence for the greater part of the short journey, till she felt him tense and looked up at him questionably.

"Why did you do that?" he asked when they where standing outside her door.

"Do what?"

"Say to Sophia that we barely knew one another," he pressed.

"The way you are acting, no one would even think that we knew one another at all," she retaliated with. The numbness she had been feeling in the library had left her entirely, and against only him, she felt that she was able to state her case quite well.

"Can you blame me?" he shot back. A hand came out and smacked the side panelling. Anne jumped. "It was bad enough when I was informed that they would be renting Kellynch but now, to have you staying here as well,"

"It was not like I planned on getting injured." Anne told him, standing her ground. "Your sister is a very forceful woman. I had no choice but to accept her."

"She is," he conceded. Though personally, he did not think his sister so forceful, but rather as Anne so weak. During his private reflections, Anne observed him. A disappointed frown emerged on her face.

"You know, you are not the man I once knew, Frederick," she finally said.

"It has been eight years," he hissed, closing the distance between them, drawing his face close to hers as she shook her head.

"It is more than just the passing of time." She bit her lip as if contemplating whether to continue with her train of thought. In the end she said, "The man I knew, would never had disappeared for the entire day just to hide from someone."

"I was not hiding."

"Well you where doing a good imitation of it then." She did not back down but faced him full on, unwilling to let him see that she would rather be hiding under the blankets herself, than having this conversation with him.

He took yet another step towards her and she was forced to take one back, leading her fall into the door to her room.

"Listen to me now, and listen well," he said, drawing even closer. She felt his breath upon her cheek. "I do not have to explain myself to you. You have no hold, no right, to question anything that I do. Not anymore."

And with that, he was gone.

Anne stood in the doorway for several minutes more, thankful for the support that the wood provided, for she doubted her legs could have held her on their own. 'I deserved that' she thought to herself as she turned and opened the door, sliding into the room and coming to rest again the other side of the door.

Maisy was in the room, preparing the bed for her mistress. The young girl was tempted to fetch Mrs Croft as she thought Miss Elliot looked quite unwell, but the young woman waved her off and instructed her to repack her belongings, she would be leaving in the morning.

Tempted though she was to ask why, Maisy, knew her place. She did however, go as far to say,

"But we where just getting used to having you home again, Miss."

Falling into the chair by the window, Anne raised a hand to her face and took a swipe at the solitary tears that had leaked out without her knowledge.

"This is no longer my home."

* * *


	7. Chapter 7

_The start of this chapter flowed quite well, and I wrote it quite quickly. The latter part was more difficult for some reason. I'm still not too sure where this piece is going, I need to plan it out over the next couple of nights, but you'll all be glad to know that I have almost completed my 'Fever' story and that I have started on another Persuasion story. Once I've finished it, or finished most of it, I'll start posting._

Anne had long departed the library before the others headed off to their own beds, each unaware that their house guest was not planning to on staying as long as they hoped she might. At least, two of them where.

Frederick was currently stalking back and forth across the floor in his room.

He had rejoined the others back downstairs, but had been unable to settle. The conversation between Anne and himself continually circling in his head and offering him no piece to enjoy an evening drinking by the fire. Telling Sophia and the Admiral that he was turning in for the night, he had in fact taken the back door out of the house and gone for a short, sharp, brisk walk around the surrounding area in an effort to clear his head.

It hadn't worked.

Instead of clearing his head, the chill in the night air had only drawn him into comparison to the night before, and Anne's words from then, now added to ones already floating around his thoughts.

Having heard where his sister and brother in law planned to spend the first part of their time on dry land, had caused Frederick considerable distress. He had been able to convince himself, after a long while, that it was all due to the fact that he did not want to return to the area that he had suffered so much heart ache. It was not, as his heart tried to tell him, that he feared to return and find news that Miss Anne Elliot, was no longer Miss Anne Elliot, but Mrs Something-or-other.

If he was to encounter her, he told himself, he must act with indifference. He would not show any emotion to her what so ever, if she was still in the neighbourhood. It had been after he had first heard of her spoken in great detail, during the first party at Uppercross, that he had felt some sort of twisted glory. That she was still here, that she had not (to his knowledge at that time) received any other offers of marriage, gave him a weird sense of pleasure.

He had been the best, and only offer that she had received, and yet she had wasted her chance.

He had no doubt that they would have been happy together. He had doubted that during the early part of his heart ache. At that point he had come to the conclusion that it was better for him to she how easily she was led, than to find out down the road when they where bound to one another. They could have been perfectly happy though, he would have overlooked it being so in love as he was.

It was all the in past. There would be no back tracking, no renewal of feelings once so much treasured. His heart now had a hard protective shield from woman such as Anne Elliot.

Or so he tried to convince himself.

Morning arrived without ceremony and the Croft's both woke without the knowledge of what was about to happen beneath their rented roof. They greeted one another as was their custom, prior to heading downstairs to have a short walk around the gardens and then to breakfast.

Frederick joined them a little while later, looking none worse the wear for the disturbed and broken sleep he had endured the night before. Slight bags under his eyes, and a slightly messed up look caused no alarm to be flagged by his sister and brother in law. The former merely suggesting that he go to bed an hour or so earlier in the coming evening so that he might retain his good looks, if he was indeed in search of a wife.

The three enjoyed a quiet breakfast together. Anne's maid had earlier brought down the news that her mistress was yet to raise, and that it had been requested that she be allowed to sleep in a little this morning due to the fact that her ankle was hurting more after she had exercised it, and she thought she might have put more weight on it than it could handle at this present time.

The Admiral, his wife and brother-in-law where in the study when there was a knock at the door, and the butler came into the room. A message had been sent to him, asking when the carriage was to be readied for and in which direction they would be travelling in.

The three looked at one another, two of them instantly knowing that either of them had requested the carriage. Sophia looked at her younger brother, a question on her face.

"Do not look at me Sophy," he said before going back to his paper, "I did not ask for it."

"Then who?"

"I believe my dear, that you are forgetting about our other guest," the Admiral reminded his wife after a short pause.

"But," Sophy began, "She is staying here, for a few more days at least. We had decided on that."

The Admiral just looked at her, contemplating his next words, when there was another knock at the door and the butler opened it to reveal Anne's young maid. The young girl curtsied as she came into the room and stood there, silent.

"Well child, speak up," the Admiral gently encouraged after she failed to speak.

"I heard you where looking at who had order the carriage, Sir," she said tentatively.

"And you know who did?" Mrs Croft asked, turning in her seat so that she might look at the girl more closely.

"Yes ma'am, it was my mistress, ma'am. She asked me to see to it when she returned to her room last night, said she didn't want to impose on you any longer."

"Impose on us? Whatever gave her that idea?" Mrs Croft exclaimed softly.

"I knew you wanted her to stay a few days more ma'am, and I told her that, but she seemed upset and I didn't want to bother her too much. I did try to convince her to wait till morning, but she was adamant ma'am. She wanted to go." The young girl rambled before realising she had probably said more than she should, and was silent.

Sophy had turned half way through the young girls speech, to look at Frederick. The man in question tried to sink further into his seat and keep his attention firmly on the paper that he held.

"Thank you Maisy. Please return and delay Miss Elliot in any attempt she makes to leave Kellynch." The young girl nodded to her mistress

"You can not keep her as a prisoner, Sophy," Frederick said, lowering his paper once the maid had left. "If she wants to leave, then you will have to let her."

Sophy frowned, "She did not seem upset when she left us last night. Did she say anything to you on the way up the stairs?"

Frederick raised his paper again and mumbled something behind it.

"A straight answer if you please, Frederick," she asked, "Did she say anything to you last night about wanting to return to her sisters?"

"No, she did not," he replied. Feeling perfectly sure to himself that he was not lying, Anne had not mentioned anything about returning to the cottage at Uppercross. Their conversation may have been the catalyst of her decision to return, but she had not spoken of it to him.

"And did she seem upset when you left her?" Sophy persisted.

"No."

"Then what did you say to her?"

"Nothing."

"You must have said something Frederick, the poor girl is threatening to leave."

"If she wants to go, then I say let her."

Sophy narrowed her eyes and rounded on him, pulling the paper from his hand when he attempted to use it as a shield. "What did you say to her?"

"Me? Why me?" he protested.

"Because she was fine when she left us in the library, but upset when she entered her room. That leads me to the conclusion that you said something to her. What was it?"

"Nothing!"

"Frederick!"

"Leave it Sophia," he said, turning away.

"Then you said something," Sophia said to him as he lost the fight to keep his features natural and had to get up from his chair and stand by the window. Looking out, no one could see the multitude of emotions that crisscrossed across his well worn features.

"I said nothing about her leaving if that is what you are implying," he said, still facing the window.

"I'm not implying anything beyond you saying something to her and upsetting her."

"Imagine that," he mumbled to himself, his voice dripping in sarcasm. "Me saying something that upset Anne Elliot."

"What was that?" enquired the Admiral, who had sat in silence for most of the siblings conversation. If it could be called such.

"Nothing sir. I didn't say anything."

"Then there must be a good imitator about, as I am sure I saw your lips move just then."

"Frederick, please," Sophie begged. "If you said something to her then tell me. It may have meant nothing to you but perhaps she took it differently."

Standing where he was, Frederick shook his head. This would not do.

"I will go speak with her," he stated. Leaving his post by the window, he strode forcefully across the room ignoring the calls from both his sister and brother in law to still.

If it was his words that had caused Anne to make this snap decision to up and leave, and he knew they where, then it was up to him to fix it. He would never hear the end of it from Sophia if he did not. Not that he thought that Anne would say anything to either of them about the conversation she shared with him last night, but Sophia would suspect anyway and sometimes it was worse for her to be left up to her own imagination.

He had a letter from an old friend yesterday. If need be, he would just leave for a couple of days. He had been planning a trip anyway he told himself forcefully as Anne's words from the night before resounded in his ears.

"Damn her," he cursed as he began to climb the stairs. She had not been in his acquaintance again, for more than a few days and already she was taking over his head.

Perhaps a break was in order.


	8. Chapter 8

_What say we try and kick start this one?_

* * *

Anne was sitting on the edge of the bed waiting to be called downstairs for the arrival of the carriage to cart her from Kellynch back to Mary's, when there was a short, sharp knock at the door; and before she even had time to draw breath and call "Enter", the door had swung open and Frederick had walked in.

He had been the last person she had been expecting to see today, given that he had gone to great lengths to avoid her yesterday, and after their discussion last night. She had even managed to convince a small part of herself that she no longer wanted to see him or have anything to do with him.

It was a very small part though.

So there she sat. Feet dangling slightly of the edge of the bed, chest packed, ready and waiting to be taken away and placed on the carriage. Her coat lay folded neatly beside her, her gloves resting on top of it.

"What are you doing?"

"Sorry?" she asked, still slightly shocked from his entrance.

"Why are you leaving?"

She swallowed. "I…I think it best."

"For whom?" he asked, pacing in the small confinements of the room.

She watched him walk back and forth. It reminded her very much of a similar situation eight years ago when he had been unable to control his emotions and had paced the drawing room at Kellynch, continually throwing looks and remarks in her direction.

"Stay," he said firmly. "Sophia wants you here, so stay. I will go."

"You shouldn't," Anne began, but he cut her off again.

"No, I shouldn't, but Sophia has decided that your wellbeing is more important than mine at the moment. So you shall stay and I will go."

Silence fell upon the room and Anne could almost feel the resentment coming off him in waves.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly.

He shook his head and headed to the door, "You always are," he said before walking out and closing the door behind him.

He never turned round, had he done, he might have seen the tears raining down her cheeks and the sorrow crowding out all other emotion in her eyes.

//

As Frederick hurried down the stairs after running to his room and grabbing a hastily prepared bag stuffed with a few changed of clothes, he began to feel a pang of regret at what he had said to Anne. His anger was still strong however, and it quickly washed away all other feeling.

"Well?" the Admiral asked as he entered the drawing room. "Does she stay?"

"She is staying," he said, "And I am going."

"Going?" Sophia asked, looking up from the morning paper. "Where? Why?"

"Lyme," he replied. "To see a friend."

"Now?"

"Yes Sophia, now." He said sharply.

"Frederick," she began, but he cut her off.

"It is decided Sophia." he said angrily, raising his voice slightly. "She is staying and I am going."

"But Frederick," she tried again.

"No buts Sophia," he said. "It is settled." Clearly ending the ending the conversation.

As he stormed out of the room, Sophia turned to her husband, her brows raised in question.

"George," she said slowly, "Do you have a feeling that something is going on here that we are not aware of?"

The Admiral didn't answer verbally, but gave her such as look as to suggest that he agreed wholeheartedly.

Perhaps an additional letter to Edward was in order?

//

Anne remained seated where she was for a long time after Frederick had left. A lot of that time was spent trying to regain her composure. She knew she should have protested more against returning here last night, then they would of never have been in this situation and could continue to be distant with one another till either he left or she travelled to Bath; whichever came first.

It wasn't until lunch time that a maid stuck her head round the door to ask if she heading downstairs to eat, or if she would prefer a tray brought up. Being a bit of a coward and not knowing what Frederick might have said to his sister and brother in law, Anne asked for a tray.

The next time there was a knock at the door she expected it to be the maid with her food. It was her lunch, but it was not brought to her by whom she expected. When Sophia Croft entered the room, balancing a tray in her hands whilst using her body to keep the door open as she entered, Anne tensed. She was not quite sure of what to expect from his sister. What had he said to her?

"How are you feeling?" was the first words that Sophia spoke. Setting down the tray on the end of the bed, she took a careful look at her young friend. The signs that she had had some sort of encounter with Frederick earlier on this morning where evident on her face and although Sophia did not want to pry, hoping that either one of them would let their guard down long enough for her to understand the situation, she did find both her curiosity and anger at brother, peeked.

"I think I should be apologising for my brothers behaviour." Sophia began, stopping when she saw Anne shake her head. She sat down on the bed and watched the young woman. Anne sat on the window seat, her injured foot resting up beside her while the other trailed on the floor.

"I am intruding on him here." It was all she felt comfortable saying about the situation, not knowing what Sophia already knew nor what she had been told. How was she meant to explain the situation without rehashing the whole terrible experience? Anne had decided that perhaps they did not know of Frederick and hers past encounter, and to make them aware of it would only anger him even more. She could not even begin to imagine what Sophia and the Admiral might think of it.

Sophia listen to all that was being said, and to all that wasn't. She could tell that Anne was not comfortable with the way that the conversation was heading, nor from being in the situation she found herself in. Sophia could only imagine what it must be like being cared for in one's former home that had to be given up due to mounting debts, not to mention there seemed to be an underlying problem between Anne and Frederick, where neither one felt comfortable in the others presence.

"Well," Sophia said, "You wont be bothering him for the next day or so, or him you. He has gone to see a friend, at Lyme, and is not expected back for a day or so."

Anne nodded, looking back out the window. "I saw him leave."

"Shall we see you at dinner then?" Sophia asked hopefully. She really did enjoy Anne's company, and the poor girl did seem to be more cheery and talkative when Frederick was not around.

"I think it would be better if I stayed here for the day and kept the weight of my ankle." Anne said, hoping that Sophia would not argue with her. The older woman merely smiled and nodded. Standing, she ran her hands down her dress, straightening it out.

"Then we expect to see you for breakfast in the morning," she said to her guest before departing.

Anne let out a sigh. She had been expecting more specific questions from Sophia on what she and Frederick had talked about, and felt as though she had got away easy there. Perhaps the next day or so would not be too bad.


End file.
